Lesson: Ethics
Unit: Ethics
Materials: none
Age Level: 3rd-6th
Space Requirements: classroom
Time: one hour
Objectives:
Students will learn what the terms consequentialism, deontology, humanism,
anthropocentrism, and non-anthropocentrism, and intrinsic value mean
Students will start forming their basis for environmental concern
Students will debate with each other about a real-life situation
Students will decide whether animals have intrinsic value or not
Students will make their own environmental coat of arms
Students will discuss sustainable energy sources
Plan: 15 minutes- Hospital debate
Directions: Read the following facts to the students then have them
discuss with the person next to them. Make sure to encourage them to
think of all possible outcomes: Plans to build a new hospital are in
the making. This much needed facility will specialize in cancer treatment.
However, in order to build the hospital where they want to, they will
need to cut down a forest that is home for many plants and animals.
One animal is a rare bird that nests in the summer only in this area.
If you had to decide whether to build the hospital or not build it,
which would you choose and why?
Afterwards bring them back together and share some of the things they
came up with. Tell them if they chose to build the hospital you are
thinking as a consequentialist. Consequentialism says that rightness
of a policy is judged solely on the basis of the effects that are expected.
Even though it threatens certain animal species and individuals it is
still right because it will be very beneficial to many humans. If they
chose the second they are thinking deontologically. Deontology judges
rightness of policy in terms of adherence to rules or constraints that
are in addition to any expected consequences. If it endangers a species
or puts it into extinction it is unacceptable.
15 minutes- intrinsic value
Directions: As a group, discuss the following: Why should we protect
endangered species? Do we protect them so that they will be around for
future generations to watch and enjoy? Or do we save them because they
have a right to live, separate from any human purposes?
Then tell students if you said so that humans can enjoy them your thinking
is humanistic. Humanism says that nature has no independent moral status.
Anything we do to protect the environment is to help humans. Nature
is only here to serve humans. If you said that it’s because they
have independent moral status your thinking is non-anthropocentric or
ecocentric. This says that the continued existence of ecosystems, species,
and individuals is important in and of itself, separate from any human
value. Humans have a moral responsibility to protect the environment.
Plants and animals have intrinsic value.
20 minutes- Environmental coat of arms
Directions- Have students draw one of the three coat of arm shapes on
a piece of paper. Make sure they spilt it into three even sections.
In the first section they should draw something in nature that they
care about. In the second section they should draw something that is
harmful to that thing they care about. And in the third section they
should draw something they can do to prevent the harmful thing from
hurting the thing they care about. Afterwards have a couple people share
theirs.
10 minutes- Sustainable energy
Introduce the four types of sustainable energy- solar, wind, hydro-electric,
and geothermal. Give a brief overview of each, and share the news articles.
Tell students about the webquest they can do to learn more (http://www.geocities.com/brookwebquest1/).
Tell them that you are leaving a list of activities you can do with
recycled materials and sustainable energy. Tell them that one of the
activities is building a solar oven. Encourage those students that are
interested to look at the list for
ideas of things they can do at home.
Background Information: Consequentialism and deontology are just two
ways of ethically thinking. This challenges kids to think about their
basis for environmental concern. What do they value, and why do they
value it? Anthropocentric means that one species is causing massive
and rapid species extinction through exponentially increasing their
own population. Humans are the only known species that is anthropocentric.
Anthropocentric thinking says that humans can do anything they want,
no matter what the negative effects on other species are. Anthropocentrism
is humanistic, but not all humanists are anthropocentric. There are
different levels to all of these ways of thinking. The purpose of this
exercise is to expose kids to different ways of thinking, and help them
figure out where they stand. The discussion in the exercise is very
important. The webquest was found at the webquest page: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/
